The After-Echo + 

How long the echoes love to play + 

Around the shore of silence, as a wave + 

Retreating circles down the sand! + 

One after one, with sweet delay, + 

The mellow sounds that cliff and island gave, + 

Have lingered in the crescent bay, + 

Until, by lightest breezes fanned, + 

They float far off beyond the dying day + 

And leave it still as death. + 

But hark⁠— + 

Another singing breath + 

Comes from the edge of dark; + 

A note as clear and slow + 

As falls from some enchanted bell, + 

Or spirit, passing from the world below, + 

That whispers back, Farewell. + 

So in the heart, + 

When, fading slowly down the past, + 

Fond memories depart, + 

And each that leaves it seems the last; + 

Long after all the rest are flown, + 

Returns a solitary tone⁠— + 

The after-echo of departed years⁠— + 

And touches all the soul to tears. + 